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Salesforce Appexchange Solutions versus Custom Development
Salesforce is thriving, and customers using it know why - it’s undoubtedly a powerful platform. The icing on the cake is Salesforce Appexchange. Appexchange is a marketplace for Salesforce, that provides applications, services, and solutions that enhance Salesforce features. Similar to what we have in our phones - App Store or Play Store - we download apps that enhance the capabilities of our phones. A quick fact, as mentioned by Marc Benioff in his book “Trailblazer”, the Appstore.com domain was gifted to Steve Jobs by Marc Benioff as Steve Jobs planted the seeds of the idea that became the first enterprise app store.
Appexchange Solutions are plug-and-play apps that can be installed in your Salesforce sandbox or production org. These apps can be configured very easily by Salesforce Admins and require no or low customization. There are both Free and Paid apps available for a variety of industries. ISV partners have utilized their expertise and created Vertical Solutions as well. There is a huge number of Appexchange Connectors that connect Salesforce with third-party apps giving a very simple UI to Salesforce customers. So, it does check all checkboxes to use an Appexchange app. However, there are a massive amount of customers that still prefer Custom Development. Let’s look at the reasons why Custom Development is preferred over Appexchange Solutions.
1. Requirements and Processes
Appexchange Solutions provide vertical solutions or apps that contain features and processes that are generally used by industries. These are more catered towards the common use cases involved in any industry. Moreover, when you are using the app, you might not be utilizing all the features. If it’s a free app, it does not matter. However, if it’s a paid app, you must think twice. Moreover, the processes built in the Appexchange apps might not fit your organization completely.
However, when you decide to go with Custom Development, with us, you can have full control over the features - you can list out each requirement along with the use cases to build your custom app. We understand the world today has a handsome amount of companies, each come with a unique set of requirements and processes. Let the app fit your company processes, rather than your company processes getting accustomed to an app or solution. Hence, a tailored-fit solution works best for you.
2. Cost and Efforts
Appexchange Solutions come with the major benefit of saving your efforts behind any custom development. Well, free apps can save your cost and effort both. Vertical solutions come with a fixed price and fixed solution, which saves you a lot of time. In addition to time, it also saves all the efforts you have to do behind the development of the solution - requirement gathering, endless discussions and meetings, sprint demos and feedback, daily scrums, UAT, and whatnot. However, all this is okay if you find a relevant solution to your business needs. If a solution satisfies your ⅘ needs, you should think of using the ready-to-use solution.
However, if you go with Custom Development with us, all your requirements will be satisfied, and you will pay for exactly what you want. The time and efforts are worth investing if all your needs are fulfilled, as your company might be unique in terms of processes.
3. Selection of Vendors
Appexchange Solutions come with a fixed vendor - you may or may not have worked with them. These vendors are reliable since they have an Appexchange app, and might have customers all across the globe. But everything depends on the post-installation support they provide and whether it works out well for you.
However, if you go with Custom Development with us, you have full freedom of selecting the resources of your choice. We ensure our customers meet the team before we start the project. We ensure both our internal team and the customers are comfortable with each other. We would meet all criteria of your Vendor Selection Checklist that will ensure we are the one for you.
4. Reliable and Secure
Appexchange Solutions come with a managed or unmanaged package to be installed in your org, which implies it is a reliable and secure code as it has been vetted by the Salesforce Security Review team. And, the vendors too go through a Security Review themselves. Hence, everything we get is reliable and secure.
However, if you go with Custom Development with us, we have a reliable team who can create reliable and secure code for you. Some request their developers to create unmanaged packages so the deployment processes can be smoother. Apart from this, we use multiple security review tools are available online that can be used to review the quality of code as per Salesforce standards.
5. Enhancements, Upgrades, Customer Support, and Documentation
Appexchange Solutions come with free upgrades, customer support, documentation - all depending on the vendor. You must consider it as one of the major factors to decide if the Appexchange Solution is suitable for you. You must consider the number of enhancements to the Appexchange solution that will be needed to meet your company’s needs.
However, if you go with Custom Development with us, our development comes with documentation and training videos. We also offer various packages for Customer Support which include error resolving in minimal time. With custom development, you might not need enhancements - since all your requirements are addressed as part of the development. For Upgrades, we offer various packages as part of the Support Development which is more of an annual contract. Select what suits you best and pay accordingly.
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